Traditional Thai Restaurant has been a fixture of Upper Hutt's Main Street since 2001, and it holds a distinction no one can take from it: the city's longest running Thai restaurant, operated by the same family for more than two decades. Husband and wife Nareat and Chanya Saetang opened the doors after working in Wellington, and today they cook alongside their daughter Jirapan, the Executive Chef who learned everything from her mother, while daughter Pornsawan manages the front of house.
The cooking is built on fresh, high quality ingredients and a made-from-scratch ethos — right down to the curry pastes and sauces, everything is prepared in-house by Jirapan and Chanya. The menu spans Thai classics such as Kaeng Massaman and Kai Yat Sai, and around 85 per cent of dishes can be made vegetarian or vegan. The kitchen is happy to tailor dishes to your preferences, one reason regulars come from both Upper Hutt and much further afield.
Dinner is served Tuesday to Sunday from 5pm, with later closings on Friday and Saturday. The restaurant is fully licensed and welcomes BYO wine, caters large and small parties with a special banquet menu, and offers takeaway, delivery via DoorDash, Delivereasy and Uber Eats, online ordering and gift vouchers. Its consistency has been recognised too — Restaurant Guru named it Best Restaurant, Best Service and Best Takeaway Food in Upper Hutt for 2024.
Upper Hutt has plenty of places to eat, but only one can call itself the city's longest running Thai restaurant. Traditional Thai Restaurant has been cooking on Main Street since 2001, and it has been run by the same family the entire time — first by husband and wife Nareat and Chanya Saetang, and now alongside their daughters Jirapan and Pornsawan. That continuity shows up where it matters most: in the food.
Nareat (Ed) and Chanya (Ao) came to New Zealand in 1997 and worked at Thai Panom Restaurant on Cambridge Terrace in Wellington before opening their own place in Upper Hutt four years later. Their daughter Jirapan (M) arrived in 2003. 'When I was in Thailand, I couldn't cook and I've never done it before,' she admits. Her mother taught her from the ground up — making curry paste, cooking curries, stir-frying — and she fell in love with it. Today she has more than 20 years of experience and leads the kitchen as Executive Chef. Sister Pornsawan (Nui) runs the front of house as General Manager, bringing more than 15 years of hospitality experience from Thailand and New Zealand.
The kitchen's rule is simple: fresh, high quality ingredients, prepared properly. Right down to the curry pastes and sauces, everything is made in-house by Jirapan and Chanya. That foundation supports classic Thai dishes such as Kaeng Massaman, a rich, gentle curry built on the family's own paste, and Kai Yat Sai, the traditional Thai stuffed omelette featured among the restaurant's signature plates.
The team is also famously accommodating. Around 85 per cent of the menu can be prepared vegetarian or vegan, and the chefs are happy to tailor dishes to individual tastes and dietary requirements — their standing advice is simply 'just ask'. That flexibility has built a large base of regulars, some travelling from well beyond Upper Hutt to eat here.
The awards have stacked up over the years. In 2024 Restaurant Guru named Traditional Thai the Best Restaurant in Upper Hutt and also awarded it Best Service and Best Takeaway Food, while Sluurpy recommended it the same year. Similar nods came in 2023, 2022 and 2019, and further back the restaurant won Upper Hutt Top Restaurant in 2005 and the 2011 Best Cafe/Restaurant award, with finalist placings in 2008 and 2009. For a small family business on Main Street, that is a long run of consistent praise.
The restaurant sits at 237-239 Main Street, an address with its own history. It opened as Jugglers restaurant in November 1987, became Rhein Café in 1990, Lambregts Café serving German food in 1993, and Café Malaka in 1994. In 2001 Café Malaka became Traditional Thai Restaurant, which later expanded eastward into neighbouring No. 239.
Traditional Thai is a dinner restaurant: doors open at 5pm Tuesday through Sunday, closing at 10pm on Friday and Saturday and 9pm on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday nights. Monday is the family's day off, and Sunday service is a recent addition — the kitchen is now open seven evenings out of seven? Not quite: six evenings a week, but Sunday's return means weekend diners are well covered.
Bookings aren't essential, but the room is often very busy, so booking ahead is the smart move — especially for groups, since the restaurant caters for large and small parties with a special banquet menu for birthdays and events. The restaurant is fully licensed and welcomes you to bring your own wine. If you'd rather eat at home, takeaways can be ordered at the counter or by phone on 04 528 9878, and delivery runs through DoorDash, Delivereasy and Uber Eats. Online ordering and gift vouchers are available too.